Good Luck!-He's still a Cardinal

As you have probably heard by now, Stanford Cardinal starting quarterback Andrew Luck is foregoing the NFL draft to complete his senior class year and obtain his degree.  You read that right,  Luck is foregoing the NFL draft to return to Stanford.  How often do you ever hear that happening these days, especially from a quarterback who is a lock to make millions as the number one pick in the NFL draft?  I can't say I'm really surprised, as I even speculated to my co-workers he might return to one of the pre-eminent universities in the nation to obtain his diploma. No, really, I did, even though I don't have the conversation recorded as proof.  And while many of my co-workers and friends will say he's an idiot for passing up millions, his chances at a national title are slim with all the departing senior at Stanford this year, etc., I actually applaud Luck for his decision.  Because in this day and age of college athletics, it seems that the student part of student-athlete is almost forgotten when in comes to the football or basketball player.  This is despite the fact that all of these athletes are getting their respective education(s) paid for in its entirety by accepting a scholarship to play ball at their given university.  I actually mentioned to some friends of mine that if Pryor, Posey, and Company wanted to really show their teammates and fans they cared about Ohio State, not only would they return next season to serve their five game suspensions, but they would also work toward getting their degrees at The Ohio State University before leaving for the NFL.  My buddies, of course told me to stop being stupid, that no one before them who entered the NFL draft got their degree beforehand either.  But as I reminded them, the others before Pryor, Posey, etc. didn't sell treasured memorabilia either.  But I digress.  The reason I bring up Pryor is to illustrate just how screwed up society's opinion of college athletics is today.  As far as they're concerned, Luck should have left to go to the NFL,  opting to leave his degree on the table rather than guaranteed millions on the table.  And in the case of Pryor, well, he should go too, not necessarily because he will succeed at the next level, but due to a belief that he wasn't really all that committed to Ohio State in the first place.  But I say good luck, Mr. Luck, I hope you obtain your degree, and to Terrelle Pryor, I say, see you next year, perhaps?  Maybe you can earn one of those diplomas, too, before you leave?

Buckeye fans need to just enjoy Sugar Bowl win

Last night's Sugar Bowl was a great game, even if you were a fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks.  If you were an Ohio State fan, maybe you breathed a sigh of relief after the game.  Or you could have been critical of Tressel's game management down the stretch, or outraged that the five players involved in "Tattoogate" as its being called were on the field last night.  But I would like to give all Ohio State fans out there a simple word of advice regarding last night's game: just enjoy the fact your team won the game.  Your team finally got the proverbial "can't beat the SEC in a bowl game" monkey off its back, what more could you ask for? And we could argue all day whether the five players facing suspension in the fall deserved to be on the field last night, but I say let's let their actions in the coming weeks and months determine their fate.  You want OSU to play a perfect game? There is no such thing as a perfect game, I tell you.  You think the win was tainted by players who don't deserve to be there?  The NCAA says they do, and that's good enough for me, and it should be good enough for you, too.  So be happy, Buckeye fans.  Ohio State finished the season 12-1, defeated a quality opponent, and won their second straight BCS bowl game.  I don't know about you, but aside from winning the National Championship I'll take that any day.

File this under "We didn't know we were live!"

So, as you may or may not have heard, yesterday Eric Mangini was fired as head coach of the Cleveland Browns by team president Mike Holmgren.  And, it appears that ESPN analysts Hannah Storm and Adam Schefter couldn't be happier about.  Or it least appears that way. I'll let you watch the video and decide for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiGPNs80v88&feature=topvideos .  As you can see from the video, the two share a jovial moment, ending with a high five before quickly reminding viewers "that someone lost his job" and "families are affected."  I am wondering if there wasn't an office pool going on how long it would be before Mangini actually got fired.  I mean, to be honest, I am a Browns fan who was actually calling for Mangini to be fired for weeks.  So I have no problem with him being fired.  And I have read comments from other people who believe that ESPN "is biased against the Browns", and I would respectfully disagree on that point.  But the video does seem to call into question both Storm and Schefter's professionalism, don't you think?  Would they react the same way if the VP of Disney, ESPN's parent company and therefore their boss, was fired? On air?  Now that may be an extreme example, but I thought it was the media's job to report the news without bias or judgment, save opinion pieces.  So  what opinion are Schefter and Storm trying to convey there?  They didn't think Mangini was head coaching material in the first place? I don't think so, but this seems to me one of those "oops, we didn't know we were live" blunders that I thought ESPN was above.

Orange Bowl Postgame Press Conference Reveals Alarming Trend in College Football

There was something about last night's Orange Bowl that really bothered me.  No it wasn't that the Orange Bowl has switched sponsors from FedEx to Discover, although that switch does reveal how shameless the business side of college athletics has become.  Nor was it the performance of Virginia Tech, who, despite being the sentimental favorite of media pundits looked like they belonged in the BCS just as much as the University of Connecticut did in the Fiesta Bowl.  It didn't even bother me that Stanford's 40-12 win might be the last time we see either head coach Jim Harbaugh or starting quarterback Andrew Luck in Cardinal red.  No, what really bothered me was the line of questioning that was aimed at Luck, and then Harbaugh, in the Stanford press conference immediate following the game.  You all know what I am talking about, that the media (and ESPN shares a lot of the blame here) could not help but ask Luck and Harbaugh if this was their last game with the University of Stanford.

Hey I understand that the media gets paid to attract more viewers to its network, and if ESPN can break the story that either Andrew Luck declares for the draft or Jim Harbaugh becomes the next coach of Michigan before anyone else does that means higher ratings for them.  But just like the final year that Lloyd Carr spent in Michigan, speculation has been rampant that Harbaugh wants to return to Michigan, just like Les Miles supposedly did that year.  And heaven forbid Andrew Luck should want to return to one of the preeminent universities in the nation to finish his degree at Stanford when he could make millions in the NFL draft by declaring tomorrow morning.  Nevermind the fact that if there might not even be a season next fall the the players association and the owners can't work out a new labor agreement.  But it almost seems unfathomable to the media that either the coach or the player would want to return to Stanford.

However, can't Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck take a moment to bask in the glory of one of the greatest seasons in Stanford football history before they are asked 'what's next, gentleman?'  Kudos to Luck for refusing to answer the question regarding his draft status at all, instead saying he wanted to enjoy the moment. And a double kudos goes to Harbaugh for refusing to answer the one question that has been on the media's(read: ESPN) mind for several weeks now.  Certainly last night will not be the last time these two are asked those questions this year, but at the very least they should not have to answer those types of questions for at least another week.

You know, there used to be a day when news was just that, news.  Nowadays, especially in the information age, hardly anything we read comes as a surprise.  I mean, if and when it is announced that Jim Harbaugh has left Stanford to join another team, will anyone outside of the Cardinal Nation care?  More shocking would be to hear that both Harbaugh and Luck return to Stanford for another season.  Of course ESPN is working on that angle, too.

Why the Big Ten gets the bad rap

It seems all the talk in college football these days surrounds the Big Ten's apparent free fall.  Ohio State appears on the verge of getting its breakthrough win versus a team from the SEC, then a scandal hits the program and appears to threaten the availability of several of its star players, including its starting quarterback (Terrelle Pryor) and leading running back (Daniel Herron).  Due to a loophole in NCAA rules, the pair is allowed to play in tomorrow night's game, along with DeVier Posey, Mike Adams, and Solomon Thomas, also found guilty of selling memorabilia and accepting discounts on tattoos.  While this ensures that the Arkansas Razorbacks will face an Ohio State team at full strength, many contend that both the NCAA and the OSU have placed a higher emphasis on the almighty dollar than the integrity of the Sugar Bowl.

Then, to make matters worse, over the past weekend the Big Ten's shoddy performance in Bowl games has many people revisiting OSU president Gordon Gee's "Little Sister's of the Poor" comment.  For those of you that don't know, more than a month ago Gee basically put his foot in his mouth when he said " teams such as  TCU and Boise State could not hang with the Big Ten,  because it's murderer's row every week in that conference, while teams such as TCU and Boise play 'the little sisters of the poor.'  The past two weeks have not been kind to the Big Ten in bowl games.  Iowa and Illinois are the only teams with victories in bowl games thus far, and the state of Michigan was outscored by almost 100 points.  Add to that losses by Northwestern, Penn State, and Wisconsin, and the Big Ten is now 2-5 in bowl games this season.  Making matters worse is that Wisconsin lost to one of Gee's aforementioned 'Little Sisters of the Poor', TCU, 21-19 in the Rose Bowl.

On the flip side, the SEC has come out smelling like Roses.  Urban Meyer resigns as head coach of the University of Florida Gators, citing declining health, and no one bats an eye.  Nevermind that at 7-5 Meyer had the worst team he's ever coached.  Now his health may be an issue but don't be surprised if you see him coaching somewhere else in the near future.  Just look at Mark Dantonio, head coach of Michigan State.  He had a heart attack during the middle of the season, sat out for a couple of games, and I have yet to hear that he is not coming back for next season.

Then there is the Cam Newton scandal/saga.  It has been widely reported that Newton's father, Cecil, shopped the services of the Auburn starting quarterback to the highest bidder.  The NCAA and Auburn did what they concluded to be a thorough investigation on the matter and concluded that while the elder Newton was in the wrong, Cam Newton was absolved of any wrongdoing.  These findings were independent of an ongoing FBI investigation into claims that the Newton's tried to extort money from any university.  I must admit that I have not read up on all of the NCAA bylaws, but it seems even to me to say that Cam Newton did not know his father was shopping him around to different universities is just plain ludicrous.

By this time you're probably wondering: what's my point? I am glad you asked.  Because it seems that in mainstream media today, the SEC can do no wrong, and the Big Ten can't even tie its collective shoes without doing something wrong.  And this has become a disturbing trend.  And I think I have figured out why.  One reason is the unaminous hatred for anything Ohio State.  Mainstream media cannot stand that Ohio State is consistently in the discussion of the nation's elite teams.  They will try to use every different angle they can to tear down the Buckeye program.  To be fair, Ohio State may not be the number six program in the country, as some would say they lost to their only quality opponent, but if you look at the programs below them you could make an argument that not one of them has a win that puts them decidely(sp) above the Buckeyes.

And the next reason the media has it in for the Big Ten follows from the first, with the recent decline of the University of Michigan football program, there has not been a consistent challenger to Ohio State in the conference.  Many will argue that with the addition of Nebraska University next season that will change.  While that may be true it doesn't change the current reality  Wisconsin knocked Ohio State from its perch this year, yet some people still wonder had Ohio State been able to cover the opening kickoff if the outcome would have been the same.  The media argues that the SEC is the tougher conference because no one really knows from year to year who will take the crown.  Sure Florida has taken two of the last four BCS titles.  But sandwiched in between are also titles by LSU and Alabama, and, potentially, a third title from Auburn.  But in the Big Ten there has only been one team to consistently make it to the BCS: Ohio State.  Ohio State's struggles in recent BCS contest(s) (they have lost three of their last four games, two to teams from the SEC) only further the media's opinion that the Big Ten is watered down.

So maybe Big Ten expansion isn't such a bad thing after all.  Because maybe it will restore some parity to the conference,  and bit by bit repair its image in the eyes of mainstream media.

Tressel teaches, but can he be taught?

This Saturday as the ESPN Gameday crew heads to Columbus, OH, for the Ohio State-Penn State matchup, they will air a segment on a class that head coach Jim Tressel teaches to students who attend The Ohio State University on the theory and practice of coaching football.   I was able to read some of the finer points that ESPN will cover regarding the class via the Columbus Dispatch newspaper, whose headline article covered the very same topic.  After having read the article,  I walked away from it wishing I could audit the course on a pass/fail basis.  Alas, as the course is taught Mondays and Wednesdays during the fall beginning at 7:30am, there is a conflict with my work schedule that would prevent me from taking this course.  There is no doubt a lot to be learned from this course, I gather.   But there was an even bigger question that was nagging me when I had finished the article.  Coach Tressel no doubt passes along a sea of information to not only his students in this class, but also to his players on the field.  However, I have often wondered what lessons does Coach Tressel learn from his players?  From the media? And last, but not least, the fans, some of whom faithfully attend each home game, regardless of the Buckeyes record?

If I really wanted to know the answers to these questions, I guess someday I could rearrange my work schedule so I could attend his class.  Then again, they don't call him the senator for nothing.  Having worked two separate stints on Capitol Hill in Washington I am fully aware that public figures such as Tressel have to be careful what they say, regardless of the setting.  Therefore, even if I attended the class, I may not get the answer I was looking for when I ask him "how do you respond to those critics who say your team's schedule could be tougher?".  And of course if I push too much he might even kick me out of his class, as even attending The Ohio State University is a privilege, not a right.  So much for getting a glimpse into the thought process of the man dubbed "The Senator" via direct inquiry in his class.

Of course I might be able to gain some insight as to his thought process by just attending his class, soaking up all the information he passes along, and applying that information to what I see every Saturday in the fall when his team enters the stadium to play.  Ever since his first season as head coach, fans of Ohio State football have wondered why coach Tressel plays so conservatively, why he won't hire an offensive coordinator, and why The Ohio State University continues to schedule multiple nonconference games against significantly inferior opponents(many of whom reside in the state of Ohio).  And to a point Tressel has answered his critics on two of those three questions, and the media in  Columbus has often surmised at answers to the third question.  But attending a class taught by the coach would not only be beneficial in that I would see how Tressel views the x's and o's of the football field, but maybe get a glimpse into how Tressel sees his team as compared to the rest of the nation.

All of this leads me to the next question, which is: Tressel teaches many, both on and off the field, but can he himself be taught?  Can his players teach Tressel that running the same play over and over until it fails miserably might not be the best strategy?  Can the media impart to Tressel that OSU is not only the standard bearer for the state of Ohio, but also for the midwest and the Big Ten Conference?  And finally, can Buckeye Nation teach Jim Tressel that Woody Hayes was loved not just because he beat Michigan, but also because he led the Buckeyes to four National Titles?  The answers to all of these questions remain to be seen.  For starters, Tressel is adamant about reminding his fans and critics that life is bigger than the game of football.  Indeed it is.  Life will go on long after Ohio State football is a distant memory.   That is not to say that Jim Tressel is happy when his team loses.  Or that he intentionally calls plays "not to lose the game" rather than win the game.  It's just to say that a loss doesn't mean the end of the world.  Which, in the end, might be the biggest lesson that anyone could learn, even someone like him.

College Football 101: why computer rankings aren't really that objective either

Once upon a time, in the college football world, the major conferences got together and decided upon a format that would take the human element out of deciding who would play for the mythical national championship.  They called this format the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), with the idea being that the teams ranked nos. 1 and 2 in the final BCS ratings, would meet in the national championship game.

At the inception of the BCS, the top teams were determined by averaging a series of polls conducted by various media outlets, with the no. 1 and no. 2 rated teams having the highest average of these polls.  Strength of schedule was also factored into these ratings, as were rankings based on computer algorithms, but these components did not nearly carry as much weight as the human media polls.  Overall record played a role in the final BCS standings, as teams who had one or more losses were penalized for each loss on their schedule.

In 2005, the BCS championship would be decided in a game where undefeated USC defeated previously unbeaten Oklahoma for that year's mythical national championship.  There were many people, however, that felt the University of Auburn, who would also finish the season undefeated at 13-0, deserved to play in the national championship.  They argued that Auburn's strength of schedule was tougher than Oklahoma, and thus Auburn would have given USC stiffer test than the 55-19 blowout that the Trojans eventually administered to the Sooners.  They would further argue that the flaw in the BCS system was allowing human media polls to determine who would play for the national title, and the way to remedy this was to find a more objective way to determine who the top two teams in the nation were.

The BCS would respond by eliminating several of the human polls and revamping its ranking process.  In the new BCS rating system, only two human polls(the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Interactive Poll) would be factored into the equation, along with six independently conducted computer-based rankings.  The top teams in the nation would then be determined by adding up each of the polls and then dividing by 100.  The two teams with the highest percentages would then play for the national title.

Fast forward to today, where the recent BCS ratings have TCU, Boise State, and Utah as numbers 3, 4 and 5 in the current rankings, despite playing weaker schedules than many of the teams below them.  Yes these schools are undefeated, and yes all of the schools ranked lower than them have at least one loss.  However, records don't tell the whole story in this case.

Take Boise State for example.  The Broncos are ranked anywhere from no. 4 to no. 13 in the computer polls.  That is quite a discrepancy.  For comparison sake, let's then look at Nebraska and Oklahoma, who at nos 7 and 8 are three and four spots below the Broncos, respectively.  Nebraska is ranked anywhere from 4 to 10 and Oklahoma is ranked anywhere from 4 to 11.  Both examples show a range of rankings but not a near a leap as it is from 4 to 13.  Why is there such a gap in the computer rankings of Boise then? That's easy: each computer ranking code is written by a different individual, who in turn places different weight on factors such as strength of schedule, quality wins, etc.  Wait a second, how is that any more objective than the media polls? There's the rub.  But there's more.

Utah, ranked number 5, does not currently have any wins over teams ranked in the BCS top 25 yet is ranked above several one loss schools that have multiple wins against the BCS top 25. What makes it even worse is that no poll (human or computer) has Utah ranked higher than number 6.  So Utah is rewarded because it has won all of its games playing against easier competition? Sound familiar? It should, because it is the exact scenario the BCS committee was trying to avoid when they created the new system.

So where does this all this fuss about computers leave the current state of the BCS? Imperfect, just like it was before, and, before the dust settles on this season, some team will win the national title while another team cries it was robbed.  One thing is for certain, fans of the current BCS ratings hoping that the computers would shed some objectivity on the situation have to be disappointed.